Associate of Arms Dealer Arrested

Richard A. Chichakli, a dual United States and Syrian citizen who has been described as a close associate of the Russian arms trafficker Viktor Bout, was arrested on Wednesday in Australia, American authorities said. He is expected to be extradited to the United States, where he faces charges in Manhattan of conspiring with Mr. Bout to violate international sanctions by attempting to buy two Boeing aircraft from companies based in the United States. Mr. Chichakli, who has previously denied being in business with Mr. Bout, faces a maximum 20-year sentence on each of nine counts if convicted, prosecutors said. Mr. Bout is serving a 25-year sentence for conspiring to sell weapons to people he believed were Colombian terrorists intent on using the arms to kill Americans. Michele M. Leonhart, the administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, called Mr. Chichakli “a key criminal facilitator in Viktor Bout’s global weapons trafficking regime.”